Sandhill Cranes and a bit more waterfowl

Once again today I headed to Ladner for some waterfowl photos. The weather was pretty much the same as yesterday...dull and overcast, but it beat staying inside watching daytime TV. Since the weather was the same, the behavior of the ducks was the same too. Hardly any flying so I just focused on the same type of shots as yesterday. Some Sandhill Cranes also made an appearance and were more photogenic than usual...waterfowl and crane photos to follow the paragraph below.

I would also like to take this time to explain my thoughts on overcast vs. sunny shooting conditions in regards to photographing wildlife. I'm sure those of you that read these regularly have noticed that my thoughts on shooting under overcast skies are normally pretty negative. While this may be true, this negativity is only in comparison to shooting on a sunny day. Once you've seen what photos look like in great light, why would you want to take photos with no direct/flat lighting? Well I'll tell you why. When it comes to wildlife photography, you have to understand that the birds and animals are going to do what they do regardless of the weather. Say you want photos of Grizzly Bears fishing for salmon in a river. Bears only feed on salmon in the rivers during a fairly short time span each year, sometimes as little as two weeks depending on the location and the salmon run that year. If it's rainy and there's horrible lighting, you're not just going to pass on shooting the bears that year. You just have to suck it up and realize that when it comes to wildlife photography, capturing the moment/action is more important than capturing only shots with perfect lighting. However if you can do both, all the power to you. Keep in mind all this good vs. bad lighting talk is only in reference to wildlife photography and is purely my thoughts on the subject. I've been guilty of passing up landscape shots due to poor weather on plenty of occasions because lets face it, a sunset on a heavily overcast/rainy day is very boring in comparison on one when the sun actually makes an appearance. Basically all I'm saying is don't let the weather stop you from getting the shots you want.

Alright so now for today's photos. I'll start with the waterfowl ones...

1/750 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/350 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/750 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/1500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/1000 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/1500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800, +1.oev

As I mentioned above, I had some Sandhill Cranes land near me and was lucky enough to get some shots of them....here they are.

1/180 @ f/6.7, 400mm, ISO 800, +1.0ev

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/350 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

1/500 @ f/5.6, 400mm, ISO 800

Thanks for reading!

www.brandonbroderick.com